Silo Ridge - Harlem Valley Times

1/23/2009 - The real impact: What does the Silo Ridge findings statement mean?

Amenia
The real impact: What does the Silo Ridge findings statement mean?
1/23/2009
By: Jennifer Barry, Staff Reporter

On Jan. 8 the Amenia Planning Board prepared and adopted a findings statement for the proposed Silo Ridge project, thereby completing the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process.

With the assistance of their environmental, planning, engineering, and legal consultants the planning board created a document that considers the relevant environmental impacts, and conclusions discussed by the applicant in its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).

Through the process of creating their findings statement, the board weighed those impacts with social and economic considerations, and ultimately crafted a document that expresses the rationale for the Planning Board's decision on impacts and mitigation requirements.

In adopting their Findings Statement, the planning board certified to both the state and to the people of Amenia that the requirements of SEQRA have been met and that the proposed project is one that "avoids or minimizes adverse environmental impacts to the maximum extent practicable and that those adverse impacts will be avoided or minimized to the maximum extent practicable."


The project and phasing
The proposed Silo Ridge development will consist of 338 dwelling units, 297 of which will be condominiums and 41 of which are intended to be single-family homes.

The development will also include a resort hotel-condominium with a total of 300 condo units, a banquet space, a restaurant, cafe, and bar/lounge located in the hotel, a "winery-themed" restaurant and Artisan's Park located on De La Vergne Hill.

Other amenities on the site will be a conference space, a spa and wellness center, and a village green that will feature retail shops in mixed-use buildings.

A water treatment facility and a wastewater treatment plant will also be included on the site.

The existing golf course has been proposed to be upgraded and improved; if the project is approved, then the existing clubhouse will be demolished and rebuilt in approximately the same location.

The project sponsor also seeks permission to install gates at all four entrances to the project: the main entrance to the resort on Route 22, a second residents-only entrance to the resort core located further south on Route 22, the access road to the vineyard cottages that is accessible from the winery restaurant driveway at the top of De La Vergne Hill, and the entrance to the vineyard cottages from a point on Route 44 below the hairpin turn.

Construction for the project is proposed to occur in three phases over several years.

"Phase One" is planned for the first three years and will include construction of the wastewater treatment plant, water treatment facility, hotel-condominium, spa, conference facility, golf clubhouse, winery restaurant and Artisan's Park, 11 retail spaces and 181 condominium units located in the vicinity of the village green and 19 golf villas.

Golf course renovations will also occur during "Phase One." "Phase Two" is planned for the fourth and fifth year and will include construction of 97 condominium units located in the vicinity of the south lawn and 41 single family homes along the western edge of the property.

The third phase is planned for the fifth and sixth years of development and will include construction of "vineyard cottages" as well as a pool and cabana for residents of the cottages.

For those interested in further review, a detailed phasing plan is contained in the April Master Development Plan.

More than half of the townhomes and flats are concentrated in the immediate vicinity of the hotel and village green, known as the resort core area, with additional units in the southeastern portion of the site and additional vineyard cottages located north of Route 44.

According to the findings statement, the flats are single-level two-bedroom units, some of which are located above the ground-floor retail shops in the village green.

The buildings defined as townhomes are multi-level three-bedroom units.

The single-family homes and the condominium golf villas range in size from approximately 3,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet, with three to five bedrooms, and are mostly located west of the golf course along the base of the hillside.

The 475,000-square-foot condominium-hotel is proposed on the south side of the village green and is one of the key components of the resort core area.

The hotel-condominium includes a 150-seat restaurant, 30-seat cafe, bar/lounge, 300-seat banquet facilities and 145-seat conference space.

Access will also be provided to the spa and fitness facilities through the hotel.

The hotel building is proposed to be four stories from the front, or the northern side, and five stories from the golf course, or the southern site.

The ground level of the hotel-condominium will contain the lobby, lounge, gift shop and service areas.

The upper levels will contain the hotel units; the level below the lobby houses the restaurant, banquet space, and conference rooms, as well as the kitchen and additional service areas.

The lower level of the hotel-condominium contains service areas as well as the fitness center and an indoor pool Small-scale retail uses are proposed in the vicinity of the village green, with residential units on the upper floors.

If the project is approved, the existing golf clubhouse will be demolished and a new 29,000-square foot clubhouse will be constructed in approximately the same approximate location, just slightly south of the existing 25,000-square foot building's footprint.

The uses proposed for the new clubhouse are generally the same as those presently in operation in the clubhouse and include a 4,000 square feet golf pro shop, 80-seat restaurant, 40-seat bar/lounge, locker rooms and restroom facilities.

Access to the golf course and driving range for town residents will be severely reduced from their current availability, both in terms of limited tee times and increased greens fees.

An 80-seat winery restaurant will be developed north of the hairpin turn on Route 44, which is also intended to serve as an additional tourist destination in Amenia and a safe place from which visitors can enjoy the view down through the Harlem Valley.

The project also includes an onsite community water supply system consisting of six new groundwater wells, a proposed water treatment facility, a water storage tank and a distribution system; the estimated maximum daily water demand of the project is 272 gallons per minute.

An onsite wastewater collection and treatment system capable of treating the anticipated 197,000 gallons per day of wastewater associated with the project is included in the proposal.

The wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) will also reserve capacity for another 181,375 gallons per day of wastewater, the intention being that the added capacity will serve the hamlet of Amenia in the event that the town is able to provide a link to the system.


Impacts and Mitigation
The Findings Statement passed by the planning board identified 19 areas of impact and proposed mitigation.

Through public hearings and public comment periods, residents of Amenia identified several of those 19 areas as key concern issues.

Impacts of the project to the local water resources have the potential to include filling, dredging, or building in a floodplain.

Some indirect impacts could include the degradation of water quality, changes in stream flow or an increase in runoff volume and/or a reduction in aquifer recharge due to increased impervious surface area.

The board acknowledged that development of the project will create additional impervious areas, which will alter the hydrologic characteristics of the watershed and could have indirect impacts on water resources.

Added impervious areas cause rainfall to rapidly convert into storm water runoff and also result in the introduction of a variety of contaminants, including nutrients and bacteria, into surface water resources.

According to calculations provided in the FEIS, the percent impervious cover within the contributing drainage area for a large area wetland is anticipated to be four percent, which would fall below the ten percent threshold of concern for impervious surface cover.

Mitigation proposed in the Findings Statements says that soil disturbances will be limited to five acres or less at any one time.

If more than five acres will be disturbed at any one time, permission form the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) will be required.

Construction "housekeeping practices" will also be implemented to help maintain storm water quality.

As discussed in several public hearings, demand for emergency services will likely increase due to the increased population; therefore an increase in calls is anticipated by the Dutchess County Sheriff's Department.

However, according to the planning board's findings, the Sheriff's Office does not foresee any negative impacts to their operations as a result of the proposed development.

While the Sheriff's Office will respond to all 911 emergency calls, an agreement with the Town of Amenia will be required to allow the Sheriff's Office to enforce local community laws, such as traffic, parking and pedestrian safety laws.

Additionally, the New York State Police did not express concern regarding the ability of the existing staff and equipment to address increased demand from the project.

According to the planning board's findings, the Northern Dutchess Paramedics does not "foresee any issues providing service to the proposed development and will adjust their staffing according to the anticipated demands."

During the hearing process, the public questioned whether the Town's fire department has a ladder truck able to serve a five-storey building or, in the case of the proposed development, the hotel.

While the Amenia Fire Department confirmed that the department does not have that type of equipment, the planning board determined that the nearby towns of Dover and Sharon, both over a quarter hour away, do own aerial trucks and would be called under the "mutual aid procedures" if any fire made such equipment necessary.

In reviewing the emergency service requirements that the proposed development would incur a revised fiscal impact analysis was conducted and presented as part of the FEIS.

According to the planning board's findings, this analysis estimated that "the project will generate approximately $161,000 in revenues and $127,760 in costs related to the Amenia Fire District, producing a projected $33,240 surplus for the Fire District."

According to the board, based on discussions with local police, fire, and EMS officials that would serve the proposed Silo Ridge development several safety designs and features were incorporated into the site design and layout and meet with the approval of the local emergency response officials.

This includes water for the fire suppression system that will be provided by the onsite water supply system.

"The primary water source for fire fighting purposes will be provided by fire hydrants located at each street intersection and at intermediate points along each roadway within the proposed development," the statement said. "Fire hydrants will generally be spaced every 300 feet, depending on the area being served."

The proposed hotel-condominium complex will be designed and built with its own separate fire water storage facility to provide the needed flow in the case of a fire emergency, in accordance with both state building and fire codes.

For the proposed hotel-condominium, fire hose hook-ups that connect directly to the sprinkler system will be provided throughout the building at several locations.

Fire truck access will be provided on each side of the proposed hotel/conference center.

In order to facilitate movement of emergency vehicles, all roads within the proposed Silo Ridge development will be constructed according to design standards in the Amenia Town Code and will be able to accommodate two 8.5-foot wide fire trucks side-by-side and, while the number of cul-de-sacs will be minimized to the maximum extent practical, any necessary cul-de-sacs will be designed to allow for adequate fire truck circulation.

The Planning Board, according to their statement, found that the proposed mitigation measures will adequately minimize the impacts to police, fire and emergency services to the maximum extent practicable.

"The proposed design measures and the positive fiscal contribution will not cause an adverse impact to these community services," their statement said.

Because the proposed Silo Ridge Resort Community is located in the Webutuck Central School District, the board had to consider whether the development would negatively impact the district.

Currently comprised of three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school, the district has an approximate enrollment of 901 students and a full capacity of 1,771 students; therefore the district has an excess capacity for 870 students.

However with the recent decline in enrollment and with projections based on this decline, administrators in the district expect to have a student population of 812 students by the 2012-13 school year.

This will therefore result in an even greater projected excess capacity of 959 students.

"For the purpose of a fiscal analysis of the project it was estimated that the residential component of the resort development would generate 96 school age children," the board's statement said.

For the sake of analysis it was assumed that all of these students would attend public school.

If this were to be the case then the cost to the school district to educate these children was estimated to be $1,595,900.

With these estimations in mind, and accounting for the potential impacts to state aid that might be associated with the project, the planning board determined that the project will generate a positive fiscal impact.

"The board estimates anywhere between $819,800 and $665,800 in net project surplus to the school district, therefore determining that no additional mitigation is necessary," they wrote.

A deep concern that was brought up multiple times during the public comment and hearing period was the visual impact that the project would have on the views from De La Vergne Hill.

Based upon comments made on the plan contained within Draft Environmental Impact Statement additional mitigation measures were incorporated into a new FEIS plan for the site.

The board categorized these mitigation measures into three groups: relocation, camouflage, and screening, all of which are mitigation measures defined in the "NYSDEC Assessing and Mitigating Visual Impacts (2000)".

According to the board's findings, the impacts of the development on De La Vergne Hill were offset by the creation of a new scenic overlook at the winery restaurant, which would be open to the public regardless of their patronage of the winery restaurant itself.

The portion of the development proposed for De La Vergne Hill was redesigned specifically to reduce its visual impacts.

First, the winery restaurant building was relocated 145 feet further north from the location proposed in the DEIS, which brings the winery restaurant approximately 530 feet back from the hairpin turn.

The DEIS location of the winery building was prominent in viewpoints both to and from De La Vergne Hill as it was located within the hairpin turn on Route 44.

By relocating it to the north, the board believes it is in a less prominent location and does not materially obstruct views from De La Vergne Hill overlooking the Harlem Valley.

However, they acknowledge that the relocation of the restaurant does not fully mitigate the visual impact either from or to De La Vergne Hill.

The original plan that the vineyard cottages be built just east of the winery restaurant was changed so that they were pulled back 100 feet from Route 44, thereby "bringing them into compliance with the 100 foot buffer required by the Scenic Protection Overlay," according to the board.

The "program" for these units was also changed so that they are no longer proposed as two-family units stacked townhomes over flats, but as single-family detached units, which reduced the unit count in the area by 19.

Four single-family homes were moved to the south end of the site.

These homes were visible in "Viewpoint 2" in the DEIS and are less visible in the FEIS's visual simulations.

Overall, the FEIS plan reduced the unit count by 21 units when compared with the DEIS plan - with 19 of those 21 units coming from the change from two-flat units to the single-family detached vineyard cottages.

Because most of the visual simulations produced for the FEIS demonstrate "exceptional camouflaging" of visible portions of buildings, only portions of the 70 foot tall hotel-condominium, the winery restaurant, and the vineyard cottages are "materially visible."

In the other viewpoints analyzed by the applicant and the board, exceptional screening and camouflage, or a combination of both, show that buildings will either be completely screened or only small portions of buildings will be visible.

The board feels that this result compares favorably to the DEIS visual simulations which showed many buildings visible in most viewpoints analyzed.

There are places in the FEIS where the narrative that describes the screening and its effectiveness in the visual simulations, and the content of the visual simulations themselves, are not consistent, the board said.

In these cases the board determined that the applicant will be held to whatever is the higher standard.

For instance, one of the visual simulations shows that the winery restaurant building will not be visible.

The narrative describing this viewpoint, however, states that the winery restaurant will be "partially screened."

In the cases where such inconsistencies exist, the applicant will be held to the higher standard of the two, and according to the board, "the FEIS has committed the applicant to a mitigation program that will render the winery restaurant building not visible."

One point the board made was that regardless of building visibility, it is possible that a project can create adverse impacts on visual resources if the mitigation measures themselves create impacts by closing off what was once an expansive view.

The visual simulations provided in the FEIS do not identify the loss or closing off of any existing expansive views; therefore the applicant must confirm that the screening vegetation does not materially alter the area's expansive views any more than what is required to screen the development.

The complete findings statement is available for review in both the Amenia Public Library and the Amenia Town Hall.